The pattern has become classic: a nation emerges from the colonial yoke,
lustily declares its independenceand then succumbs to the
totalitarian mode. French Philosopher Jean-Francis Revel, author of
Without Marx or Jesus, tries to analyze this alarming trend in a book
filled with mordant wit and intensity. As a kind of historical
prosecuting attorney, Revel puts Joseph Stalin in the dock, then offers
witnesses to the crime of totalitarianism. It was the murderous Russian
dictator who showed the 20th century how to construct a hermetically
sealed tyranny, says Revel. It is the...